Your Salvation
by tjmack
Summary: She wanted to hate him. Everything inside of her screamed at her to hate him. One look, their eyes meeting, and all the pain and anguish that she still feels is mirrored in his eyes. In that instant she realizes that she can't hate him, since she is the only one that can save him.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N:** _Okay, so I am totally stepping out of my comfort zone with this one. This idea popped into my mind a few days ago when I was having a Red Hook discussion with a friend, and refused to leave me alone. I'm pretty sure that there will be three chapters, and I'm hoping to get them written fairly quickly, in between updates of my other on-going stories. This is un-betaed so any mistakes are my own, and I apologize if there are many errors. I only did a quick glance over after I finished this up. Please enjoy, and PLEASE review! with me being out of my comfort zone, I would love your feedback on how well I captured the characters.

* * *

She storms through the halls of the hospital, her eyes ablaze with the fury she feels deep inside. Ruby hadn't felt so utterly furious in so many years that it felt almost foreign to feel it now. Her hands were balled into fists at her side, and she knows that she should heed Emma's warning. That she should steer clear of him, let herself cool off at the very least, but she finds herself unable to stop her forward motion as his room comes into view.

With each increasing step forward, Ruby feels the angry and fury growing inside of her. She could feel it clenching her heart tight, making it almost impossible to breathe. Ruby could feel as the wolf tried to take control of the situation, but she fought against it as she shoved the door open and smiled in satisfaction as it slammed shut behind her.

He jarred awake, wincing at the pain that the movement caused. His brow furrowed in confusion as he took in Ruby's appearance. Her tightly clenched fists and her teeth assaulting her bottom lip vigorously. He smiled appreciatively at her, as one of his eyebrows cocked.

"Hello, darling." He drawled, the smile still dancing on his lips. "You are quite the change of pace compared to the others. The nurses around here are not easy on the eyes, but you..." he paused as he made a clicking noise with his tongue.

Ruby stalked closer to his bed, the fury evident in her eyes. She smiled ruefully at the way he tried to disappear into the bed as she loomed over top of him.

"Who do you think you are!?" She screamed at him, her index finger jabbing at the air in front of his face.

He beamed brightly at her, "Well, my name is Killian Jones, though most people know my by my more colorful moniker; Hook."

Ruby glared at him. The fact that he was having fun at her expense was only serving to further piss her off. "How could you do that?"

"You are going to have to be more specific, love. I have done quite a few things in my travels."

Ruby snarled at him, her eyes darkening. "How could you shoot Belle? You could have killed her! Now, because of you, she has no memory of who she is."

Hook peeled himself off the bed, as he sat up straight. He peered into Ruby's eyes as a serious look overtook his face, as he spoke, "I didn't shoot her to kill her, love. I shot her, because I saw how close she was to the line. Killing Belle, while it was my first choice, I realized it would hurt Rumpelstiltskin much worse if his love didn't remember him." He smirked at her, all traces of the seriousness from a few minutes earlier had left his face, "All is fair in love and war." He winked at her, before laying back against the bed. He winced as the movement pulled at his injuries.

"So, you're telling me that you shot Belle in the off chance that she would fall over the line and lose her memory?" Hook nodded his head, he was simply getting sick of the current line of conversation. "You're even worse than I thought you were. Taking your anger out on poor Belle! Maybe you should think about being a man, and talk to Gold before you go about shooting people."

Hook laughed mirthlessly, "You want me to talk to the crocodile? To have a discussion with him! I would rather have my other hand cut off than to talk to that vile monster ever again. In fact, I'd rather see him dead," Hook cocked his eyebrow.

Ruby glared at him. "I don't disagree with your assumption of Gold. However, you need to take a good long look in the mirror, Hook. You aren't any better than he is. Stooping to his level? You should have taken the high road and left well enough alone."

Hook sat straight up, this time ignoring the pain that flared at the movement. He tried to reach out his hands, but the cuffs stopped him from going very far. He glared at Ruby, his nostrils flaring as his face turned red with the mounting anger. "Do you even know what he did to me? Huh? Don't walk in here on your high horse, thinking that you're better than me. Not when you don't even know what in the hell you're talking about! Why don't you go visit the crocodile yourself, ask him why I took away his poor, sweet Belle. Whatever you decide to do, leave and don't come back until you know what you're talking about." With that, Hook collapsed back against the bed, and groaned.

Ruby's mouth bobbed open and closed a couple of times, as she thought about what she could say in defense to that. However, when Hook turned his head away from her, she took that as her cue and quietly left the room. Emma had been right, she shouldn't have stormed in there like that. Some of his words dug at her, opening old wounds that she had tried to forget. She swallowed thickly, as she walked back down the hallway. The entire trip to visit the lowly pirate had been an entire waste of time, and had only ended with her feeling worse than she had before she had talked to him.

Something else about the visit had bothered her as well, and it was much more than the opening of old wounds. It was the look in his eyes. It was so familiar, a look that she had seen numerous times in the mirror. A look of utter devastation and defeat. The problem was that the look had only been present for a split second. Blink and she would have missed it, which begged the question, had she really seen the look of another broken soul, or were her eyes playing tricks on her?

Ruby sighed as she walked out of the hospital. She had already made up her mind. She would wait until tomorrow, and then she would return. She was going to find out more information, at this point she had to. It was more than just anger driving her now, it was morbid curiosity.


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N:**_First let me say how amazing you all are. Three reviews is far more than I expected for the first chapter, and all the follows and alerts mean the world to me. I hadn't expected to write this so soon, but it literally just started to write itself automatically, and I couldn't stop! This chapter is almost double in length of the first chapter. I've had thoughts of continuing this, but I decided against it. So it will be ending after the next chapter, however, I do have another Red Hook story that my brain is trying to cook up, so I might start working on it soon. Also, there is a hint of Red Whale in this chapter, you have to squint to see it, but it's there. All that is left to say is REVIEW! It is very helpful in helping the plotbunnies.

* * *

Ruby stood anxiously outside of the hospital. Her fingers tapping in rhythm against her thigh. She was afraid, not of Hook, exclusively, but of herself. Of what she might do if she got as angry as she had been the night before. Still, curiosity got the best of her, which was why she was standing outside of the hospital.

After her less than productive chat with Storybrooke's very own pirate, she had called Emma. After Emma ripped into her for doing the exact opposite of what the blonde had told her to do, Emma had asked her how the visit went. That had been a fun little chat, especially when Ruby had realized that Emma had placed her on speaker-phone. Snow's audible gasp as Ruby talked about the amount of anger coursing through her, caused Ruby to groan, as Snow explained to Emma what the anger meant to Ruby's other form. That had lead to another stern lecture from Emma, which didn't make it any easier to explain how Ruby had planned to visit Hook again today.

Which is what had led her to stand outside of the hospital, instead of walking inside. Emma had all but banned Ruby from the hospital, though more verbally, and that amount of fear on Emma's account made Ruby think twice about her visit. Emma didn't even fully grasp how close Ruby had come to losing it the night before, and no matter what the sheriff or her parents did or said, if Ruby hurt someone because she lost control of her other half for a split second, the townspeople would never forgive her. Not that Ruby would blame them one bit. In fact, she was certain that she wouldn't forgive herself for it either.

"Coming or going?" The voice brought her out of her dark inner musings, as she jerked her head toward the familiar voice. She offered a small smile.

Shrugging, she spoke, "Haven't decided yet."

His brow furrowed for a moment, before walking toward Ruby. The piping hot cup of coffee was steaming into the chilly Maine air. He smiled softly at her. "Why is that?"

With an elegant lift of her shoulders, Ruby gave a half-hearted shrug with a noncommittal sigh, "My last visit didn't go well. Some parts of myself are harder to control in certain situations. Plus, Emma all but banned me from hospital grounds." Her eyebrow lifted for a moment, "Shouldn't you be in there? You know, being a doctor and whatnot."

Doctor Whale chuckled lightly, "Yeah. I'm just taking a break. Though I'd go for a walk." He turned toward her, his eyes boring into her own before continuing, "Look, I am a doctor here, so I say you can go in. I'll deal with Sheriff Swan..." He paused, his fingers scratching at his chin, trying to think of how exactly to put what he wanted to say next. "As far as your control is concerned, I trust you to be well behaved." His lips lifted in a half smile, "I think that you have more control over that part of yourself then you think. If you didn't, I'm fairly certain that the townspeople would have figured it out."

Ruby nodded, "Yeah. Maybe you're right."

"Why don't you go on in, see him. He's been even worse to deal with than usual. In fact-" Whale paused, before lifting an eyebrow at Ruby and quirking his lips into a smile. "I'm assuming that your discussion with our resident pirate did not bode well last night?"

Ruby chuckled, "Oh, if only that even began to describe how horribly unproductive last night was. God! I was so angry when I went in to see him last night, I didn't even stop to think that there might be a legitimate reason why he did it. Granted, that didn't give him any reason to shoot Belle, but the look on his face..." Ruby trailed off, in that instant she made up her mind. She had to see him, and she had to get information out of him. Ruby had to know what in the world had happened that caused him to shoot another human being.

Whale was still smiling, as he turned to leave. He paused briefly, craning his neck to look at her one last time. "I'm going to assume by that determined look on your face that you have come to a definite decision?"

Ruby nodded, "Thank you, Dr. Whale."

He simply tipped his head, "You're welcome, Ruby."

With that, she turned abruptly and stalked into the hospital. She wasn't leaving without answers.

* * *

Hook lay against the uncomfortable bed, and sighed loudly. He felt guilty for how he treated the woman that had visited him the night before. His eyes drifted close as he realized that he hadn't even gotten her name. His eyes snapped open at the light knock on the door. His eyebrows creased as he mumbled for his new-found visitor to enter.

The door swung open slowly, as Ruby stepped inside. "Hi," she waved at him, before closing the door behind her. "I feel like I should apologize for last night, but I can't. You hurt my friend, and I shouldn't have to apologize for being angry and upset by that." Hook's mouth bobbed open, causing Ruby to thrust her hand up to stop him. "However, I am willing to hear you out. I want to know what caused you to do that."

Hook groaned as he rearranged himself on the bed, as he motioned for her to come closer. "Okay. That's fair, I suppose." He offered her a small smile. "Before I begin, I would like to ask your name. I realize that I was so ghastly rude last night, not seeking it sooner."

Ruby pulled up one of the visitor chairs, and sat down. She crossed her legs, and let her hands rest against them. Peering up at the injured man before her, she smiled softly, "You can call me Ruby."

Hook nodded, "Ruby it is..." He sighed, "Let me ask you a question, Ruby. Have you ever lost the one person that you love more than anyone else?"

Ruby fought back a gasp, her eyes going slightly unfocused as past memories flooded her mind. She would never regain the memory of taking Peter's life, and she never wanted to, but seeing him vibrant and alive was almost as painful. It was her one big mistake. Swallowing past the lump in her throat, Ruby nodded in the affirmative.

"Well, at least you will understand my fury better than." He sighed, his eyes glazing over as he got lost in the past. "I will admit that I might not be a good person. I'm a bloody pirate, of course I'm not a good person, but have you ever thought that perhaps you could be saved if you were able to have someone in your life that cared enough about you to keep you from drowning?" Hook's head turned, as he stared at her. He wasn't entirely sure why he was opening up so deeply to Ruby, but there was just something about her. Something that seemed familiar, like she had been in his shoes and had felt his pain. Not many people got to see this side to him, the side that proved that he was still a human being with feelings. In fact, the only other person to ever see this side of him had been ripped away from him by Rumpelstiltskin.

He barely saw Ruby nod her head, as rage and fury encroached on him. His hands started to shake, as he turned his head away from her. "I found that person. My soul-mate. She was beautiful and kind. I was no more than a lowly pirate, and I couldn't fathom what she saw in me. It was almost instantaneous how quickly I fell for her. At the time I had no idea she had a husband, she wore no ring and she had never spoken of her marriage. That is, until he came hobbling into the pub that we were at. He was so meager and pathetic. I knew in that instant why she had chosen me over him..." Hook let the seriousness drop for a moment, as he flashed a smile at Ruby. "Why would you want meager and pathetic, when you can have this?"

Ruby rolled her eyes, before focusing on Hook's face. His tone might have been playful, but the smile on his lips was obviously forced and anger still burned deep inside of his eyes. "Please, continue the story, Hook."

Hook nodded, "Very well, love." He sighed, he knew that he would have trouble telling the story, but he hadn't realized just how hard it would be. "She came to me late that night, told me that she didn't want to be forever chained to the village coward. That she wanted a life of fun and adventure, and that she wanted it with me. I hadn't been that happy in my life. So when the meager man came to me the next morning, claiming that I had taken his wife, I merely laughed at him. I told him that if he would fight me for her, that he could have her back. Just as I suspected, he was a coward." Hook could feel tears press against his eyes, and he blinked them for a moment to suppress them from falling. "If I had known what he would eventually have done, I would have simply let her go."

Ruby just stared at Hook, completely entranced, not only by his story but the elegant way that he was telling it. She could see the pain etched on his face as he spoke, and the way his eyes fluttered to keep the pooling tears from falling. She hadn't expected this. To see him be so _caring_. Because she was so entranced in the story, she had missed the clues as to who he was talking about until he uttered the name.

"My first meeting with Rumpelstiltskin was disastrous. I mocked him, called him a crocodile. I felt no shame in it, and I knew that The Dark One would eventually be my down fall. I had only heard stories up until then, about The Dark One and how powerful he was. He had asked me about his wife, Milah, and I lied. I couldn't stand the thought of that..._thing_ taking her away from me. I told him that she had died, and I felt my heart seize up as the words left my mouth. He challenged me to a duel, and me being the no account pirate that I am, agreed."

Ruby studied him for a moment, as he took a moment to gather his thoughts. Her heart ached for him, and without a second thought she reached out her hand and grabbed hold of one of his.

He sighed, before forging on. "I almost died that night. The crocodile had a grasp on my heart and I all but prayed that it would be a painless death. Cowardly of me, right? Milah, she had begged me to let her come, swearing she would stay hidden. If it wasn't for her, I would have died that night. He would have ripped out my heart and crushed it. Instead, he made a deal with Milah for our lives." He sighed, as a tear slipped down his cheek. "It was on my ship that he did it. Angry at Milah for leaving him and their son, he yelled at her. When she screamed back at him that she never loved him, he reached into her chest, ripped out her heart and crushed it right in front of me. As I knelt grieving my loss, with the one thing he wanted most clenched in my hand, he grabbed a sword and cut off my hand."

Ruby shook her head, unable to believe the words, but knowing that they had to be true. The sheer fact that he had allowed a tear to roll down his cheek unchecked was enough to prove that he was in pain telling her this story. Could she really put it past Gold to do that? Of course not. Leaning forward, Ruby squeezed his hand, causing him to look up at her. She gasped, and shook her head. She closed her eyes and fought the onslaught of emotion that tumbled through her. Her chest tightened and she felt like she was gasping for air. She wanted to hate him, and she had every right to. He had hurt her friend, and it was her right to be angry at him for what he had done. Everything inside of her screamed at her to hate him. However, in one look, with their eyes meeting, all the pain and anguish that she still feels inside of herself is mirrored in his eyes. It is in that instant that she realizes that she can't hate him, when she is the only one that can save him.


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N:**_ So, the final installment is here. I want to thank everyone who has reviewed so far, and everyone that might review in the future. You don't understand how much they mean to me! This part kind of went in it's own direction, but ended the same way that I had intended. I hope you guys enjoy. The song lyrics at the top are what helped me come up with the idea for this story, they come from the song _Savior_ by _Rage Against_. It is a simply fantastic song that practically screams Red Hook. _  
_

_That's when she said 'I don't hate you, boy_

_I just want to save you while there's still something left to save'_

_That's when I told her 'I love you, girl_

_But I'm not the answer for the questions that you still have'_

* * *

It had been a few days since her last visit with Hook, and though she still had questions, she had been unable to force herself back into that hospital room. The feelings that he arose in her, ones that had long since been forgotten, were poking at her heart. Without her really wanting it, Hook had weaseled himself into her heart. It was like broken souls attracted each other, no matter how annoying that other broken soul might be. It made sense in a way. If you shared something so deep as the loss of a love, you were bound to feel connected. However, there was a fine line between connection and attraction, much like there is fine line between lust and love. Ruby was in no way ready to think about the differences about her nonexistent relationship with Hook.

She hadn't gone there to end up feeling this confused. She had simply wanted him to apologize for what he had done to her friend, and she hadn't even gotten that much. Instead she had let him suck her in with his very own sob story. No matter how true it was, and a few talks with Emma had all but confirmed that it was the truth, it didn't change the fact that he shot an innocent woman just to hurt his enemy. He crossed a line.

That was where Ruby found herself stuck. Yes, Hook had crossed a line. He had shot Belle, in the sheer hope that she would fall across the town line and lose her memory. It was despicable, and yet, she wasn't much different. Granted, she did it to save her best friend... her family, but that didn't change the fact that she had knowingly killed her own mother. So did that make her any different than Hook? How could she hold her head high and look down on him, when she had done something so much worse.

"Long time no talk, love." Ruby's insides clenched up at the sound of his voice, and suddenly her head snapped around. He was walking, albeit with a limp and an arm draped loosely over his midsection, but he was indeed walking.

"How are you not in jail?"

Hook chuckled as he came to stop behind her. With his free hand, he cupped it over his eyes as he stared out at the ocean. He was a pirate at heart, and his heart officially belonged to the ocean waters. While he had his revenge on Rumpelstiltskin, he found himself anchored to the small, foreign town. It had taken him almost the entire four days that Ruby had not visited him for him to realize that it was her keeping him here. He didn't know why, he knew next to nothing about her and no one in town was willing to tell him anything. Granted, he had earned the distrust, aligning himself with Cora. However, he found himself wanting to change, to be better. Though he had never been the _good_ guy, he had never been _this_ guy, and if he was truthful, Hook did not like the guy that the cold-hearted revenge had turned him into. Willing to do whatever was necessary to hurt the one man that had hurt him.

It took him a minute to understand why Ruby was starting at him so intently, she had asked him a question. Right, why hadn't Swan locked him up. He smiled at her, "Pretty sure it was my charm that won the fair sheriff over."

Ruby rolled her eyes, before grabbing a handful of sand in her hand and letting it flow through her fingers. "Yeah, well that charm doesn't work on me."

Hook sighed, he had screwed up again. He had gotten fairly good at telling when the women in town were annoyed with him, and Ruby was practically radiating annoyance. "Can I sit down?" Hook nodded at the space beside her, when she peered up at him.

With a sigh, she merely nodded. "Answer me truthfully, please." Ruby finally spoke, after a moment of fairly uncomfortable silence.

Hook stared out into the waves of the ocean as he spoke, "She didn't have much of any proof that I shot Belle. It was the _crocodile's_ word against mine, and Belle isn't able to press charges since she has no memory of the shooting. So, Sheriff Swan had no choice but to let me go."

Ruby scoffed at him, "Figures."

He eyed her wearily, "What's that?"

"You could have confessed and took responsibility for what you did. Instead you let a technicality grant you freedom that you don't deserve."

Hook sighed, "I thought you understood..."

Ruby laughed mirthlessly, "I understand why you wanted revenge. I get that, but what I don't get is taking that revenge out on an innocent person!" Ruby shouted. She didn't even know why she was getting so upset. She was so confused by everything. The way that Hook made her feel and the fact that she felt betrayed that he didn't even seem to understand. That he didn't seem to get why she was upset.

"I explained that to you!" He shouted back, as the darkness inside of him reared its ugly head and took over. He hated the words the moment they left his mouth, but he couldn't take them back.

"I thought that I could help you. That I could save you from what you've become...I wanted to save you, not because I think you deserve it so much as the fact that we have so much in common. The darkness alone is a staggering similarity, but if you can't admit that what you did was wrong..." she paused, breathing deeply, "then there is nothing I can do to help you. You have to want it, Killian."

Hook stared ahead, as her words sank in. She wanted to help him? She wanted to make him a better person? For a reason beyond his understanding tears pressed against his eyes, he stared down at his hand, the hook still missing from his other. "I want your help, Ruby. Please."

She peered up at him, and sighed, "Prove it."

Hook nodded, "I never thought what I did was right. I knew it was wrong. I just made myself feel better by saying that it had to be done. That I had to effectively rip out Rumpelstiltskin's heart, and once I realized that he kept his heart with Belle, metaphorically speaking, I had to hurt her to hurt him. Once the relief of actually gaining my revenge left, I realized that what I did was wrong. I couldn't admit it, but I knew it."

Ruby nodded, "Okay, that counts I suppose. Look, it is going to take a really long time before anyone around here believes you. I won't promise that they'll ever trust you, because you burned a lot of bridges in the short time you've been here. We are talking about people that keep grudges for a really long time. I mean, Regina enacted the curse to get revenge on Snow White for something that happened when Snow was merely a child. So, I need you to promise that you are done with Cora."

Hook placed his hand over his heart, "Cross my heart." The edge of his lips quirked slightly at the chuckle that came from Ruby. "On one condition, love."

Ruby eyed him wearily for a moment, "What condition?"

"Why do you think that we are so similar? You mentioned something about the darkness..."

She sighed, figuring it was one fair. He had told her his story, and Ruby could tell that it hadn't been an easy task for him. "Fine. Let me start by introducing my Enchanted Forest counterpart," Ruby snickered at the look on Hook's face, "My grandma always called me Red, but most know me by my more _color moniker_; Little Red Riding Hood."

Hook just stared at her for a moment, "Okay, is that supposed to have some kind of importance?" His eyebrow raised at the smile of her face.

"I'm a werewolf, Killian." He gasped, and she chuckled, "Don't worry. I have control over that side of myself, most of the time. There was a time when I didn't even know. My grandmother, she hid the truth for me in a way to save me. That's where the Little Red Riding Hood came into play, she had a red cloak that a wizard had enchanted. As long as I wore it, I wouldn't transform. However, because she never told me the true importance behind the cloak, I rarely wore it all the time. I killed so many people, it still makes me sick when I think about it. Part of me is still angry with my grandmother for keeping the truth from me, because if she had just told me the truth then maybe Peter would still be alive."

Hook glanced at her, he noticed the tears in her eyes. "I'm assuming that Peter meant a great deal to you?"

Ruby nodded, a watery smile on her lips. "I loved him so much. Snow and I, we had found tracks of the wolf, they led to the cabin that I lived in. Directly to my bedroom window, and they slowly turned human. I thought that it was Peter, that he was the wolf. When I shared my fear with him, he shackled himself to a tree. He was completely defenseless when I turned, and my grandmother found me too late. I had already killed Peter when she found me. I went to a very dark place for a while. I hated myself and what I was. I ended up finding myself with a pack of werewolves, much like myself. I found out that the pack was ran by my mother, I had thought she was dead. I was so happy..." Ruby trailed off, not many people knew the next part of her story.

Hook reached across and gently let his fingers graze her shoulder. She looked up at him, and her heart clenched. She fought against the feeling, because she could not fall in love with Captain Hook, no matter how charming and handsome he was.

Swallowing thickly, she forged on. "Snow found the packs hiding spot, and Regina's army followed her. One of the pack members died when they stormed the hide out, and my mother wanted Snow's life for the life of our fallen member. I couldn't stand by and let my mother kill Snow. Not when Snow was the only person that didn't tell me how to live my life. She was the only person that cared about me and not what I was. She was my family, and I couldn't stand there and watch her die. So I took my mother down, I hadn't meant to kill her, it was an accident."

"Hey," his voice was soft, warm. So unlike himself that he wasn't even entirely sure that the word came from his own mouth. "You said it yourself. It was an accident. Peter's death, it wasn't your fault either. You blame yourself for things that were out of your control."

She smiled at him, "Thank you." She sighed, "It's so hard sometimes. To control that side of myself. I had gotten so good at it in the Enchanted Forest, that it was simple. Twenty-eight years without changing, without needing to control a part of myself that had gone dormant, it is really hard."

Hook nodded, "Is it worth it?"

Ruby chuckled lightly, "Every single day." She looked at him, "Thank you, Killian. Not just for your willingness to change, but for listening. It was nice to share that side of myself with someone that understands." Without a second thought, Ruby leaned in and pressed a kiss to Hook's cheek.

Hook felt an explosion of electricity on his cheek as he simply stared at her. Ruby was right about one thing, it was going to be hard to put everything behind him. To change who he is, but one look in her eyes made him realize that it would be worth it.


End file.
